6 Things You Did Not Know About Love Bites, a.k.a., The Hickey

Puberty is the time of life when we all want to experiment and try out new things, especially when it comes to our love life and relationships. We’ve all been carried away by a moment of passion and before we realize our partner leaves a love bite on our neck. And as much as we find them interesting or exciting the resulting bruise, popularly called a hickey, can have some pretty bad side effects. And even though you may think you know all you need to know about them you actually don’t know anything. If you knew you wouldn’t let your partner do it again.

Before we go into details and provide you with some eye-opening information about these “adorable” love bites let’s see what they actually are and how they’re created. Love bites or hickeys are just bruises which appear when you get carried away making out or having sex. In such moments a lot of people start nibbling or biting the sensitive areas of their partner like the neck or collar bone, which can be quite arousing. And even though you may think that it takes a lot of effort to make a hickey since the resulting bruise can look really bad, it really isn’t quite true.

The hickeys bruise easily because the layer of skin right beneath the surface is full of capillaries which break under pressure, like when your partner bites you. It may not look so bad right after, the place becomes red and swollen, but after a few days it starts getting purplish and finally it becomes a nasty yellow stain on your neck. You may think hickeys are innocent enough but there are a few things you need to know about them because the side-effects are not as innocent as you think.

People with iron deficiency get hickeys easier

If hickeys are an inevitable part of your sex life and you get them after every single moment of passion you might have an acute iron deficiency. Iron is an integral element in your blood and if your iron levels are too low it’s probably why you bruise so easy. This could also lead to more serious conditions like anemia. If hickeys tend to appear more often you should check your iron levels and try to increase them through food. Include more iron-rich foods like green leafy vegetables and red meat.

Hickeys may not always be temporary

When we get a hickey we don’t stress too much about it because they usually disappear after a while. However, we shouldn’t be so casual about this because in some rare cases hickeys can leave a permanent scar. This mostly depends on how fair is your skin, the severity of the hickey and if there was biting as well but it could happen. But mostly it depends on whether you’re constantly picking it which can cause further damage and increase the risk of it becoming a permanent feature on your neck.

They can give you oral herpes

We’ve all heard about herpes and that it’s the most common STD around the globe. However, when we hear herpes we usually think about genital herpes but we are unaware that oral herpes can be easily transmitted as well, and via a hickey too. If your partner has an active cold sore and he gets carried away in the heat of the moment you can get the virus through the little breakage in the skin. Of course, it’s general knowledge that you shouldn’t have sexual contact with your partner while he has a cold sore, but sometimes it’s easy to forget all about it and then you’ll wonder how it happened. If you get a hickey from your partner while he has a cold sore you’ll get the virus too almost certainly.

Hickeys can cause a serious blood clot

This isn’t such a common appearance but there have been reported cases of hickeys causing blood clots which can turn into a serious medical condition. In 2011 a woman from New Zealand suffered a stroke from a hickey which led to a paralysis in her left arm. Even though this is the only reported case of a stroke from a hickey, the mere fact that it happened tells you enough. This leads us to the conclusion that hickeys are not so harmless after all, especially if the bite is too deep.

There is no cure for the hickey

People who’ve had experience with love bites have a number of topical solutions to share but none of them are really effective. This is because the damage is internal and no matter what you put on the spot it can’t fix it, you have to wait for it to heal on its own. Some say ice is really effective, others say a hot towel or toothpaste, but these remedies can only reduce the swelling and inflammation and nothing more. You just need to make sure not to pick it and leave it alone, it needs time to heal, just like any other bruise. You could try to eat healthier, drink plenty of water and improve your overall health. The healthier you are the faster you’ll recover. In the meantime some make up is your only solution.

Hickeys are sex injuries and may need treatment

Sex injuries are a thing it’s not just a myth, and they’re more common than you think. Hickeys may be the most common injuries reported by people after sex. It doesn’t matter if it’s on your neck, collar bone or thighs they are damage to your blood vessels and can lead to serious medical conditions, as we already mentioned. They are minor internal bleedings and should be treated as such. They can also lead to nerve damage. It’s no wonder we always get hickeys on the neck, collar bone or thighs, these areas are extremely sensitive because they abound in nerve endings right under the skin. Damage to these areas can even lead to partial paralysis and retarded movement.

There you have it, all you needed to know about hickeys and their side effects. Maybe now you’ll be more careful and won’t let yourself get too carried away in the moment, because a moment of passion can leave lifelong complications. Love each other but practice safe sex!